


Sleep or Sirens

by Movie_Riggs



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Comforting, F/M, Fluff, Post-Wedding, post-IW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Movie_Riggs/pseuds/Movie_Riggs
Summary: Peter is torn between his love for MJ and his responsibilities as Spider-Man.





	Sleep or Sirens

**Author's Note:**

> I've been fighting some writer's block, so here's a short little number to help me get back on my feet.

The "problem" (it was really a blessing) about MJ is that Peter could never decide when she looked the most beautiful.

First, he had thought it was during that snowy evening in junior year of high school when they walked to Delmar's for a snack, and she had thrown her head back and laughed at something he said and the snowflakes had fallen all around her face and the tip of her nose and her cheeks were red from the cold.

Then, he had decided it was the day after they graduated college, when he proposed to her while they were cuddling on the couch in sweats, and her hair was tied back and she had red dust on her fingers from the bag of Hot Cheetos they had been sharing.

But no, it _had_ to be the moment she walked down the aisle as a bride in her wedding gown. Even Tony Stark had once told him that that moment was hard to beat; that he had never seen Pepper look more beautiful than that himself. 

Of course, it was also hard to beat how she looked this evening, once that wedding gown came off and she was moaning in ecstasy under him.

But hey, why not throw this moment, _right now_ , into the mix? MJ was sprawled out on the bed in an over-sized T-shirt, taking all the covers to herself, curly hair flowing loosely about in an unkempt halo around her head. She was content. Peaceful. Happy.

It made Peter want to stay. 

_Wish_ he could stay.

But he couldn't.

Even as he kept finding himself entranced by her lovely image, he was attempting to shuffle quietly across the room, digging through his suitcase. He found the mask, stuffed under his extra socks. The suit was eluding him, though. Maybe if he turned on the nightstand's lamp for just a quick second...

"What're you doing?"

Yeah, nope, that didn't work. 

Peter halted the search through his clothes as MJ groggily rose up to a sitting position, rubbing sleep from her eyes. 

"Hey," he whispered. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, I..."

He paused as she arched her brow at him, clearly noticing the mask clenched in his fist. He glanced down at it sheepishly.

"Sirens, MJ," he admitted. "I heard them. A second ago. I was just gonna go real quick..."

"It's four in the morning."

"I'd be back before you woke up. That is, if you hadn't woken up."

MJ crawled over to his side of the bed, throwing her legs over so that she was sitting on the edge, looking down at him. 

"We've been married less than twenty-four hours, Peter."

"It was just gonna be a quick little thing..."

"We're in _Hawaii_."

"There's crime in Hawaii, too."

Peter turned away from his suitcase, still kneeling, to face up at her. MJ looked sad.

"You can't do this, Peter."

"I have to."

MJ let out a humorless, exhausted laugh. "Oh my God! When? When are you going to learn that you don't owe the world anything? The world owes you! It owes you at least one night! _One night_ where you don't risk your life for total strangers!"

"It's not about what I owe the world..." Peter began, but MJ had already heard his speech about the responsibility his powers had given him (cursed him with, really) and interrupted him. "Then what about what _you_ owe _me?!_ "

Peter's mouth closed, as any argument he was going to make faded away at the sound of her voice breaking. MJ often fought back tears on the rare occasions that they threatened to show, but it was early and she had just woken up and this time they were making trails down her cheeks before either of them knew it was happening.

"I'm your fucking _wife_."

In that moment, Peter understood the fear that MJ was trying to tell him she felt. It wasn't the same fear as the one she'd always had since she first found out he was Spider-Man. The fear that he would go out to fight some crazy bad guy and never come back. This was a fear that he would never be there for her when she needed him. That their marriage was going to be second fiddle to his superhero alter-ego. 

He imagined what it would be like if they ever had a child. If MJ was taken to the hospital and he couldn't show up because he was in the middle of stopping a bank robbery. A freaking bank robbery, that any number of superheroes or policemen could handle, over his own kid. His own wife.

_With great power comes great responsibility._

Peter accepted this new responsibility wholeheartedly. 

Standing up and dropping his mask, he embraced MJ and leaned forward so she could bury her face in his shoulder. 

"I'll stay," he whispered softly. "I'm sorry. I'll stay."

MJ ran her hands up his arms till her fingers found his hair. She pressed them to his head firmly, desperate for the reassurance that he hadn't already left and she was just dreaming this. Peter rubbed his hands up and down her back and kissed the top of her head, silently telling her that she wasn't.


End file.
